Pakistan Security Brief

The New York Times reports that Afghanistan has been using the TTP as proxy in Pakistan; Afghan President to press Prime Minister on location of former Afghan Taliban deputy; Indian Mujahideen believed to be behind Bihar bombings; Indian Minister for External Affairs unhappy with lack of progress on DGMO meeting; JUI-F chief to lead TTP talks; Prime Minister says that he is focusing on speeding up TTP talks; American Ambassador says that U.S. supports Pakistan’s talks with the TTP; one soldier killed and three wounded in North Waziristan; two killed and four injured by security forces in North Waziristan; Nine alleged militants killed by security forces in North Waziristan; Three soldier injured by IED explosion in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; Suspect in September 29th Peshawar bombing arrested; Seven killed and five injured in attack on tribal leader in Balochistan; IMF team talking with the State Bank of Pakistan on relaxing loan conditions; NAB to file new corruption references against former Prime Minister Ashraf; Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister says that Iran-Pakistan pipeline may invite international sanctions.

Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations

• According to a Monday report in The New York Times, the mysterious capture of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) deputy Latif Mehsud by U.S. special operations forces from Afghan custody earlier this month was the prompted by U.S. forces learning of a plan by Afghan intelligence to use the TTP in a proxy war against Pakistan. Mehsud was on his way for meetings with Afghan leaders in Kabul when the U.S. learned of the scheme and intervened. The Afghan Taliban has been used by Pakistan as a proxy in Afghanistan for years, and Afghanistan was reportedly trying to use the TTP to get revenge on Pakistan.[1]

• According to Afghan officials, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is planning to press Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the whereabouts of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a former deputy of the Afghan Taliban who was released recently from Pakistani custody, supposedly to participate in the Afghan reconciliation process. He has reportedly been under virtual house arrest since then, which has angered Afghan leaders.[2]

India-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, Indian police confirmed that the Indian Mujahideen, an Islamist group closely linked with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is believed to be behind the Sunday attack on a political rally in Patna, Bihar which killed six and injured over 80. One of the suspects captured after the attacks identified Tehseen Akhtar, who is believed to be an Indian Mujahideen leader, as the mastermind of the attack.[3]

• According to a Tuesday report in The Express Tribune, Indian Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid expressed disappointment that the Indian and Pakistani Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) have not yet met face-to-face, despite the support of both counties’ Prime Ministers. He said that the DGMOs are in contact through back-channels.[4]

Talks with the TTP

• On Monday, an aide to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that his boss has been appointed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to lead the government’s talks with the TTP.[5]

• On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif acknowledged that talks with the TTP have had several setbacks, but that the government is focusing on “speeding up the process.”[6]

• On Monday, American Ambassador Richard Olson met with JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman and emphasized that the United States is not opposed to Pakistan negotiating with the TTP. Rehman noted that Pakistan supports the Afghan reconciliation process.[7]

• JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the Acting British High Commissioner met in Islamabad on Tuesday, where they discussed talks with the TTP, which the Acting British High Commissioner says the United Kingdom favors.[8]  

Militancy

• On Sunday, militants in Miram Shah, North Waziristan agency, attacked an army checkpoint, killing a soldier and wounding three others.[9]

• Shelling, allegedly by security forces, killed two people and injured four in Miram Shah, North Waziristan agency on Monday.[10]

• On Monday, security forces reportedly killed nine militants in Miram Shah, North Waziristan.[11]

• An improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in Tank, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, injuring three soldiers. [12]

• On Monday, police arrested four militants in Sara Dagai, Frontier Region Peshawar after a gun fight. On Tuesday, an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar ordered a four day remand of the four. One of the suspected militants is accused of being the mastermind of the September 29 bombing of a Peshawar marketplace, which killed 42 people.[13]

• On Tuesday, unidentified gunmen killed seven people and injured five in an attack on a tribal leader’s house in Dera Bugti district, Balochistan. The tribal leader, Tara Khan, was not harmed.[14]

• On Monday, a school in Orangi Town, Karachi was attacked after its administration reportedly refused to pay extortion to a local gang. The school was empty at the time, and no one was harmed.[15]

• On Tuesday, a bomb disposal squad defused two bombs that were found in the bag of a student in Allahbad, Kasur district, Punjab.[16]

• According to a Tuesday report in The Express Tribune, Lyari, Karachi gangster Baba Ladla reportedly lost a battle with another gang leader, Uzair Baloch, with several of his commanders dying or defecting to Baloch. According to the report, this has led Ladla to agree to a ceasefire with Baloch.[17]

Domestic

• On Monday, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team arrived in Pakistan to investigate whether Pakistan has met conditions to continue receiving tranches of a $6.7 billion bailout package from the IMF. The team began talks with the State Bank of Pakistan on the possibility of relaxing certain conditions due to a realization that they may have been too ambitious.[18]

• On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the United States in its search for Osama bin Laden, would be left to Pakistani courts. He ruled out any extra-judicial action by the government.[19]

• On Monday, a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) official confirmed that the NAB has prepared a corruption-related reference against former Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf for allegedly receiving kickbacks when he was Minister for Water and Power. The official said that the reference will be filed this week.[20]

Iran-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that, if Pakistan completes the planned Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Pakistan may be subject to international sanctions.[21]

Pakistan-China Relations

• On Monday, army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani held meetings in China with the Chinese Central military Commission Vice Chairman and the State Councilor and Minister for Public Security in which they discussed Afghanistan, the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, and the India-Pakistan relationship.[22]